As the article describes, a number of groups have criticized
the proposed budget.A recent Denver Post opinion piece
by Noah Smith, a Bloomberg commentator, notes that the U.S. innovation system
works well because we actually have a “pipeline” of new discoveries running to
commercialized inventions.Smith states
that Trump is cutting off the new discoveries and essentially putting the U.S.
at a disadvantage.As this blog has noted, the Obama Administration basically kept funding for research almost
level, but the budget was decreasing in terms of real dollars.This was considered bad.If we actually cut at the levels Trump wants
to cut, we will be in a much worse position.As Smith notes, the rust belt has somewhat been revitalized by biotech
and cutting the NIH budget will retard the growth of one of the United States’
most promising industries.

Importantly, Congress must pass the budget.And, if my memory serves me correctly,
President George W. Bush also proposed to cut government funding for research at
the outset of his presidency and later retracted that proposal.I imagine that someone explained to the Bush
Administration how important government funding for research is for industry
and the U.S. economy—hopefully that will happen for the Trump
Administration.

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